ICAC investigators reveal intriguing details of 'Fruit Market Corruption Case' of the 70s'
2006-4-17
"The Yau Ma Tei Fruit Market investigation was the biggest ICAC case involving law enforcement officers, with over 260 serving and former civil servants alleged to have corrupt dealings with a drug racket," a veteran ICAC investigator recounted.
A classic example of syndicated corruption, the Fruit Market corruption case was cracked by the ICAC in what was seen as a milestone in its fight against syndicated graft.
In the latest report of the " Inside Investigation " uploaded onto the ICAC website to enhance public understanding of the evils of corruption and appeal for constant vigilance against graft, Principal Investigator, Tony Lui Shu-tung, and retired Principal Investigator, Louis Cheung Wah-pong, recollected the intriguing details of the probe.
"Many police units were involved in this case. Some sergeants collected bribes directly from drug dealers, some opened bank accounts for regular and fixed amount of bribe payments, some others had designated 'collectors' to take charge of the payment arr angements," Mr Lui recalled.
According to the evidence of a drug dealer, police sergeants sometimes notified the racket of their transfer to other units, and some even introduced to them their successors for collecting bribes.
After being sentenced for drug offences, three key figures of the drug racket agreed to testify against the police officers allegedly involved in the bribery case.
As they were jailed in the isolation wards in Siu Lam prison, investigators had to commute daily between the prison and ICAC headquarters for taking witness statements.
"For three straight months from June 1977, we were in the prison almost everyday, from nine till four. It was just like serving time in jail with them," said Mr Cheung.
With the assistance of the senior management of the Police, investigators obtained photos and personal particulars of over 10,000 serving police officers for carrying out a large-scale photo identification exercise.
Mr Cheung said: "Every step of the identification process had to be recorded. Once a suspect was identified, the witness had to write down the identification number on the statement and signed for confirmation. Because there were a lot of people involved , the process was extremely labour-intensive and time-consuming."
Mr Lui recalled that corruption was rampant in the 60s and 70s, and accepting and offering bribes was just a way of life. He said with the ICAC still in its nascent years, it did not occur to the corrupt that they would be put behind bars.
Assistant Director of the Operations Department, Ricky Chu Man-kin, added, "After the rigorous enforcement actions the ICAC took in the first few years since its inception, syndicated corruption had been eradicated. The senior management of the police fo rce has also been co-operating with us in our anti-corruption work".
"In recent years, corruption reports concerning the police force had dropped steadily and substantially. We received 382 complaints against police officers last year, a 12 percent drop compared with 2004.
"The corruption cases only involved individual law enforcement officers who failed to resist temptations," Mr Chu added.
Members of the public can browse the ICAC website ( http://www.icac.org.hk ) for details of the "Fruit Market Corruption Case".
A classic example of syndicated corruption, the Fruit Market corruption case was cracked by the ICAC in what was seen as a milestone in its fight against syndicated graft.
In the latest report of the " Inside Investigation " uploaded onto the ICAC website to enhance public understanding of the evils of corruption and appeal for constant vigilance against graft, Principal Investigator, Tony Lui Shu-tung, and retired Principal Investigator, Louis Cheung Wah-pong, recollected the intriguing details of the probe.
"Many police units were involved in this case. Some sergeants collected bribes directly from drug dealers, some opened bank accounts for regular and fixed amount of bribe payments, some others had designated 'collectors' to take charge of the payment arr angements," Mr Lui recalled.
According to the evidence of a drug dealer, police sergeants sometimes notified the racket of their transfer to other units, and some even introduced to them their successors for collecting bribes.
After being sentenced for drug offences, three key figures of the drug racket agreed to testify against the police officers allegedly involved in the bribery case.
As they were jailed in the isolation wards in Siu Lam prison, investigators had to commute daily between the prison and ICAC headquarters for taking witness statements.
"For three straight months from June 1977, we were in the prison almost everyday, from nine till four. It was just like serving time in jail with them," said Mr Cheung.
With the assistance of the senior management of the Police, investigators obtained photos and personal particulars of over 10,000 serving police officers for carrying out a large-scale photo identification exercise.
Mr Cheung said: "Every step of the identification process had to be recorded. Once a suspect was identified, the witness had to write down the identification number on the statement and signed for confirmation. Because there were a lot of people involved , the process was extremely labour-intensive and time-consuming."
Mr Lui recalled that corruption was rampant in the 60s and 70s, and accepting and offering bribes was just a way of life. He said with the ICAC still in its nascent years, it did not occur to the corrupt that they would be put behind bars.
Assistant Director of the Operations Department, Ricky Chu Man-kin, added, "After the rigorous enforcement actions the ICAC took in the first few years since its inception, syndicated corruption had been eradicated. The senior management of the police fo rce has also been co-operating with us in our anti-corruption work".
"In recent years, corruption reports concerning the police force had dropped steadily and substantially. We received 382 complaints against police officers last year, a 12 percent drop compared with 2004.
"The corruption cases only involved individual law enforcement officers who failed to resist temptations," Mr Chu added.
Members of the public can browse the ICAC website ( http://www.icac.org.hk ) for details of the "Fruit Market Corruption Case".